Freedom Rides

"At our first stop in Virginia . . . I [was] confronted with
what the Southern white has called `separate but equal.' A modern rest station
with gleaming counters and picture windows was labelled `White,' and a small
wooden shack beside it was tagged `Colored.'"-- Freedom Rider William Mahoney[26]

In 1947, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) planned a "Journey of
Reconciliation," designed to test the Supreme Court's 1946 decision in the
Irene Morgan case, which declared segregated seating of interstate passengers
unconstitutional. An interracial group of passengers met with heavy resistance
in the upper South. Some members of the group served on a chain gang after
their arrest in North Carolina.
[27]
The
Journey of Reconciliation quickly broke down. Clearly the South, even the more
moderate upper South, was not ready for integration.

Nearly a decade and a half later, John F. Kennedy was elected president, in
large part due to widespread support among blacks who believed that Kennedy was
more sympathetic to the civil rights movement than his opponent, Richard Nixon.
Once in office, however, Kennedy proved less committed to the movement than he
had appeared during the campaign. To test the president's commitment to civil
rights, CORE proposed a new Journey of Reconciliation, dubbed the "Freedom
Ride." The strategy was the same: an interracial group would board buses
destined for the South. The whites would sit in the back and the blacks in the
front. At rest stops, the whites would go into blacks-only areas and vice
versa. "This was not civil disobedience, really," explained CORE director James
Farmer, "because we [were] merely doing what the Supreme Court said we had a
right to do." But the Freedom Riders expected to meet resistance. "We felt we
could count on the racists of the South to create a crisis so that the federal
government would be compelled to enforce the law," said Farmer. "When we began
the ride I think all of us were prepared for as much violence as could be
thrown at us. We were prepared for the possibility of death."
[28]

The Freedom Ride left Washington DC on May 4, 1961. It was scheduled to arrive
in New Orleans on May 17, the seventh anniversary of the Brown decision.
Unlike the original Journey of Reconciliation, the Freedom Ride met little
resistance in the upper South.

On Mother's Day, May 14, the Freedom Riders split up into two groups to travel
through Alabama. The first group was met by a mob of about 200 angry people in
Anniston. The mob stoned the bus and slashed the tires. The bus managed to get
away, but when it stopped about six miles out of town to change the tires, it
was firebombed. The other group did not fare any better. It was greeted by a
mob in Birmingham, and the Riders were severely beaten. Birmingham's
Public Safety Commissioner, Bull Conner,
claimed he posted no officers at the bus depot because of the holiday; however,
it was later discovered that the FBI knew of the planned attack and that the
city police stayed away on purpose. Alabama governor John Patterson offered no
apologies, explaining, "When you go somewhere looking for trouble, you usually
find it . . . . You just can't guarantee the safety of a fool and that's what these folks are,
just fools."
[29]

Despite the violence, the Freedom Riders were determined to continue. Jim Peck,
a white who had fifty stitches from the beatings he received, insisted, "I
think it is particularly important at this time when it has become national
news that we continue and show that nonviolence can prevail over violence."
[30]
The bus company, however, did not want to
risk losing another bus to a bombing, and its drivers, who were all white, did
not want to risk their lives. After two days of unsuccessful negotiations, the
Freedom Riders, fearing for their safety, flew to New Orleans. It appeared that
the Freedom Ride was over.

At that point, however, a group of Nashville sit-in students decided to go to
Birmingham and continue the Freedom Ride. Diane Nash, who helped organize the
group, later explained, "If the Freedom Riders had been stopped as a result of
violence, I strongly felt that the future of the movement was going to be cut
short. The impression would have been that whenever a movement starts, all [you
have to do] is attack it with massive violence and the blacks [will]
stop."
[31]
The Nashville students traveled to
Birmingham and asked the bus company to let them use their buses. Attorney
general Kennedy also leaned on the bus company and the Birmingham police. He
was determined to enforce the Supreme Court's decision that called for
integration of interstate travel, and he worried that if the Nashville students
remained in Birmingham much longer, violence might erupt. On May 17, the
Birmingham police arrested the Nashville Freedom Riders and placed them in
protective custody. At 2 AM on Friday, the police drove the Riders back to
Tennessee, dumping them by the side of the highway at the state line. After
they got a ride back to Nashville, 100 miles away, they went right back to
Birmingham.

Meanwhile, Governor Patterson agreed to meet with John Seigenthaler, a Justice
Department aide and a native of Tennessee. In the meeting, Floyd Mann, head of
the state highway patrol, agreed to protect the Freedom Riders in between
Birmingham. Attorney General Robert Kennedy then pressured the Greyhound bus
company, which finally agreed to carry the Riders. The Freedom Riders left
Birmingham on Saturday, May 20. State police promised "that a private plane
would fly over the bus, and there would be a state patrol car every fifteen or
twenty miles along the highway between Birmingham and Montgomery -- about
ninety miles," recalled Freedom Rider John Lewis. Police protection, however,
disappeared as the Freedom Riders entered the Montgomery city limits. The bus
terminal was quiet. "And then, all of a sudden, just like magic, white people
everywhere," said Freedom Rider Frederick Leonard.
[32]
The Riders considered leaving by the back of the bus in
hopes that the mob would not be quite as vicious. But Jim Zwerg, a white rider,
bravely marched off the bus first. The other riders slipped off while the mob
focused on pummeling Zwerg. Floyd Mann tried to stop the mob, but it continued
to beat the Riders and those who came to their aid, such as Justice Department
official John Seigenthaler, who was beaten unconscious and left in the street
for nearly a half an hour after he stopped to help two Freedom Riders. Mann
finally ordered in state troopers, but the damage was already done. When news
of the Montgomery attack reached Washington, Robert Kennedy was not happy. He
decided to send federal marshals to the city.

Martin Luther King, Jr., flew to Montgomery and held a mass meeting, surrounded
by federal marshals, in support of the Freedom Riders. As night fell, a mob of
several thousand whites surrounded the church. The blacks could not leave
safely. At 3 AM, King called Robert Kennedy and Kennedy called Governor
Patterson. Patterson declared martial law and sent in state police and the
National Guard. The mob dispersed and the blacks left safely.

After the violence at the church, Robert Kennedy asked for a cooling-off
period. The Freedom Riders, however, were intent on continuing. James Farmer
explained, "[W]e'd been cooling off for 350 years, and . . . if we cooled off
any more, we'd be in a deep freeze." The Riders decided to continue on to
Mississippi. They were given good protection as they entered the state, and no
mob greeted them at the Jackson bus terminal. "As we walked through, the police
just said, `Keep moving' and let us go through the white side," recalled
Frederick Leonard. "We never got stopped. They just said `Keep moving,' and
they passed us right on through the white terminal into the paddy wagon and
into jail."
[33]
Robert Kennedy and Mississippi
Senator James O. Eastland had reached a compromise. Kennedy promised not to use
federal troops if there was no mob violence. Both men kept up their end of the
bargain. Unfortunately, the Freedom Riders were now at the mercy of the local
courts. On May 25, they were tried. As their attorney defended them, the judge
turned his back. Once the attorney finished, he turned around and sentenced
them to 60 days in the state penitentiary.

More Freedom Riders arrived in Jackson to continue the Freedom Ride, and they
were arrested too. Freedom Riders continued to arrive in the South, and by the
end of the summer, more than 300 had been arrested.

The Freedom Riders never made it to New Orleans. Many spent their summer in
jail. Some were scarred for life from the beatings they received. But their
efforts were not in vain. They forced the Kennedy administration to take a
stand on civil rights, which was the intent of the Freedom Ride in the first
place. In addition, the Interstate Commerce Commission, at the request of
Robert Kennedy, outlawed segregation in interstate bus travel in a ruling, more
specific than the original Supreme Court mandate, that took effect in
September, 1961. The Freedom Riders may not have finished their trip, but they
made an important and lasting contribution to the civil rights movement.